Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s 1-0 defeat to Crawley Town at the Crown Oil Arena…
“I’m angry with our performance. I think it’s easily the worst performance we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said the Gaffer.
“We try to do the right things but for some reason today, I can’t really name any positives. I’ll always try to be honest with supporters and players, I think that’s what I’d want if I was a player, and we just weren’t at it.
"Bizarrely, I actually thought we started the game ok until the goal. We’re stood on the touchline thinking we’re fine and we’re in a good moment, and then the goal just seems to knock the stuffing out of us.
“I don’t know if it’s the manner that it’s conceded, which was really poor. We gave the ball away a couple of times in our own third and we don’t deal with the long ball initially. I’ve always sat here and tried to not sugar coat things but to also look for a positive in a performance, but I’m struggling today at the moment.”
When asked how we react better to conceding goals like that, the Boss commented: “It’s a mentality thing.
“There’s no doubt we’re in a bit of a sticky moment but that’s where you need to grow up and puff your chest out and say ‘right, I’m going to get myself through this’.
“For too long a period we didn’t really do that and then you almost start chasing it and then one mistake becomes two, three and four.
“I don’t see that performance today as us and we need to work ever so hard to get back to what we do well.”
And Stockdale says they’ll review the game calmly as they look to work on improvements.
“It’s really important that we stay calm. Coming into you guys [media team] after a game like that, you’ve got to be careful with the energy you’ve got built up, but we just need to work at things we need to get better at, that’s clear.
“We’ll review the game calmly. It wasn’t so long ago that everyone was telling us that we were a really good team as well, so we need to make sure that we look at ourselves first and foremost. I’ll do that and make sure that I think that we’re doing the right things, and the he players need to step up to the mark as well, which I’m sure they will. I’ve got full belief that it will turn very quickly.”
Watch the Gaffer’s interview in full on the club’s YouTube channel.